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Saturday, January 19, 2013

After a 113-day lockout and a six-day training camp, the Rangers finally have a game tonight.

That’s not news, obviously, but, for some players, the reality that the season is finally here is becoming tangible.

“I think it’s coming over you more and more,” said Henrik Lundqvist, who will oppose the Bruins’ Tuukka Rask tonight as Tim Thomas is sitting this season out. “Obviously, getting on the plane yesterday was a wake-up call. Now, everything you’ve been doing from practice yesterday reminds you of a normal season. You’re used to doing all these things and it feels good to have it back.”

No surprise on the Rangers’ lineup tonight, especially with Arron Asham serving out the last game of his suspension from the playoffs. The question will more be tomorrow night when Asham can dress. That may depend on how well Brandon Segal, a 29-year-old who has played 102 NHL games, acquits himself tonight.

So Asham will be in street clothes along with defensemen Steve Eminger and Matt Gilroy as Stu Bickel will be the sixth defenseman. The lines are expected to be the same as the Rangers have practiced all week (check previous post for line a defense combinations).

Also, Chris Kreider is actually making his NHL regular-season debut tonight, even though it seems like he’s been with the Rangers for a long time thanks to his playoff run last spring.

“It doesn’t feel like my first regular-season game,” said Kreider, who spent the lockout playing for Connecticut (AHL). “It feels like my first game with a new team halfway through the season.”

Both Kreider, from Boxford, Mass., and his linemate Brian Boyle, from Hingham, Mass., have large contingents of friends and family coming to the game. Sounded like Boyle’s group was, at minimum, 25.
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About

ANDREW GROSS covers the New York Rangers for The Record and Herald News, having joined the North Jersey Media Group in November 2007. Gross also covered the Rangers and New York Jets, as well as St. John’s basketball and Army football, for Gannett Newspapers and The Journal News (N.Y.). He graduated from Syracuse University in 1989 with a degree in newspaper journalism.